Phytoplankton collected in the South Adriatic Sea during ADREX Experiment in February 2014. The ADREX experiment, as part of EU Project PERSEUS (http://www.perseus-net.eu), focuses on the investigation of the role of the Adriatic-Ionian system in transmitting the human-made pressures in the eastern Mediterranean through the Adriatic Dense Water (AdDW) formation and spreading. more

Sampling along the water column was performed with Niskin bottles associated to a CTD profiler. At each station, several discrete depths were sampled, according to station depth and hydrological vertical profiles.
Samples were fixed with Ca(HCO3)2-buffered formaldehyde (0.8% final concentration) and cell abundance and species composition of phytoplankton were estimated according to Utermöhl’s method (1958), using an inverted microscope equipped with phase contrast, at 200-320-400x final magnifications.